Immortal say that former frontman Abbath took some of their tracks and used them on his solo album.
Abbath, aka Olve Eikemo, released his self-titled solo album earlier this year after he was sacked by guitarist Harald ‘Demonaz’ Navdal and drummer Reidar ‘Horgh’ Horghagen in 2014.
The acrimonious split seemed to come to a head when the singer saw his legal bid to secure rights to the Immortal name fail.
But Abbath’s former bandmates now point to some of the tracks on his album and claim foul play was involved.
Immortal say in a statement: “From 2010 until 2014, Immortal wrote all the songs for the successor to All Shall Fall but when ex-member Abbath left the band, he changed the lyrics, song titles and recorded these songs for his so called ‘solo album.’
“We had to focus on making a new album nearly from scratch, which is the main reason why things have taken this much time.”
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Immortal report writing sessions for the as-yet-untitled record are now complete, and add: “This will be our darkest and coldest album in a long time – with massive majestic riffs, grim frostbitten vocals and tales from our mighty realm. Fast and furious tracks, epic tracks and longer playtime than any of our previous albums.
“The last year we have completed all the new songs and look forward to record our most passionate album in a long time. The songwriting process has been awesome and we are soon ready to start the recordings.”
They continue: “In a time when true and origin Black Metal is nearly dead, the band is in ultimate spirit. After the last year’s incidents, it was time to go back to the roots to what this band is really about musically, and also to take the integrity of the band back to where it belongs.”
Immortal will play this year’s Metal Invasion festival in Straubing, Germany, which runs from October 18-19.
